Smell like Butterscotch

[Henry]

I hope this post is in the right place. I am new at this but I have a question I would like to ask. A friend of mine had some
moonshine from Alabama and it smelled like butterscotch. So I was wondering if someone could tell me how to make
it come out like that. It taste good but it doesn't taste like butterscotch. But it sure smells like butterscotch.
Would really appreciate any help.
Thanks,

[Dnderhead]

diacetyl,,infections,,weak yeast,,lack of aeration..(long lag)

[WalkingWolf]

Poor Henry -- these guys talking a foreign language. It is the path to figure out what you're after. If possible, you might ask the origins of the product you've sampled.

[Prairiepiss]

Did you already ask this question? Someone asked the same question just the other day? I'm just asking cuz the other one intrigued me. And I don't remember an answer?

Was it a brown likker or was it white? Was it a whiskey type drink?

[Evillemon]

I also just managed a batch which has a really strong lovely smell of butter scotch....although it doesnt taste of it. It was a corn mash which smelled like vomit, i nearly threw it away but got advice on here and told that itwas most likely a friendly butryic acid infection so kept it going
.. after a couple weeks that cleared and gave way to a pineappley smell. Once distilled though through my pot still the smell was delicious like butterscotch / cream soda and the distilling room reeks of it wish i could luck into that everytime

[thatguy1313]

Put that on some oak and leave it alone! It'll knock your socks off after a few months!

[Jimbo]

friendly butryic acid infection

there's NOTHING friendly about a butyric acid infection. Thats not what you had, no chance, because that baby diahrea smeared puke laden old crusty gymsock never turns into anything pleasant. Butterscotch sounds like diacetyl. Its considered a serious flaw in beer if you get that infection, but if it created something nice in your shine, hey, drink up!

[MitchyBourbon]

diacetyl,,infections,,weak yeast,,lack of aeration..(long lag)

+1 Dndrhead

These are some of the ways that you can produce an abundance of diacetyl. Warm ferments will also increase diacetyl. A Pediococcus infection will produce diacetyl too. If you cold crash it as soon as it finishes you won't give the yeast a chance to turn it into something less noticeable.

Usually, I tell everyone to do a rest after the ferment is done so that the yeast have a chance to turn the diacetyl into something that's not noticeable.

As Jimbo said, this is considered a flaw in most beer styles and I would add may not be highly regarded in whiskey.

[dstaines]

there's NOTHING friendly about a butyric acid infection.

Butyric acid sure is nasty. And if it ended up in his wash because of an unwelcome microbial pants off dance off, that's bad. But given time, an aqueous alcoholic environment and a little oxygen it can form the ethyl bytrate ester which smells like oranges or pineapples.

But I'm still skeptical that's what he definitely had, because the esterification of fatty acids takes place in spirits as they age - Proper aging on wood for several years, not the way some of us do it in a couple weeks or in the microwave. If he was making a beer, then definitely it would have been considered a flaw. There's room for pineapple in my whiskey, but if I want a beer that tastes like puke I'll go back to the frat house

[Jimbo]

I've got a2 year old corn mash aging on oak twice distilled 62% never cleaned up into anything still smells like baby shit and.puke
you're more than welcome to take a drink and see if you spot any pineapple in there.

[dstaines]

When I wished for a whiskey that tastes as good coming back up as it did going down that's not exactly what I meant...

[Rastus]

i had a sweetfeed batch that i kept adding 1/3 brown sugar 1/3 molasses and 1/3 white cane sugar, and straight out sitting in the jar of the boka at 178 proof it has a delicate butterscotchie kinda smell between rum and butterscotch mouth wateringly good... tast after dilution isnt there but sometimes i pop the lid on the little i have left of 8th generation just to have a sniff...

too bad i pulled the plug on that batch.

[Evillemon]

In all honestly i have no idea what it was, i thought that any smells like vomit, shit piss or bodily fluids were bad and it was a chuck it away scenario... however posted on here and was advised to wait it out and see. Sure enough the smell changed to a pineapple from vomit ... the room where i distilled the batch still smells like cream soda / butterscotch now ... wish there was some way to make that happen on purpose.

Is there any way to breed diacetyl or bytrate ester on purpose so we could add it to mashes ??

I did leave it about a week after it stopped fermenting outside in the cold which seemed to help the vomit smell and also allowed for a clear separation of the beer and dead yeast.

I have reused the backset in a sugar wash with some of the yeast from the bottom of the fermenter and that also now seems to have the nice smell coming on although not as strongly.. we will have to wait to see how that turns out

sorry should point out im a complete noob to all this so i apologise if most of what im saying doesnt add up or seems like nonsense..

[bellybuster]

I wish I didn't even read this post.......... Baby shit in, baby shit out. There's an old saying Bout polishing a turd

[Rastus]

dont know if henry is still following this but thinking about your changing smells .... i just read this thread the other day that explains what is happening in the various stages of fermenting corn... very interesting and applicable:
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =3&t=46340

[Jimbo]

Well, I just took a swig off that bottle. Sittin on oak since 12/10/12. Taste wasnt horrible, but my lips smell like baby shit and oak. No pineapple happenin.

[Evillemon]

Well, I just took a swig off that bottle. Sittin on oak since 12/10/12. Taste wasnt horrible, but my lips smell like baby shit and oak. No pineapple happenin.

Hahahahahha

[MichiganCornhusker]

I've got a wheat whiskey that smells and tastes like butterscotch!

[Evillemon]

http://beersmith.com/blog/2012/04/21/di ... ch-flavor/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Diacetyl it is then ... wonder if there is some way to cultivate it on purpose to add to mash ?

[Paulinka]

Diacetyl it is then ... wonder if there is some way to cultivate it on purpose to add to mash ?

As far as I know it can be cultivated, however because pediococcus' suicidal growth (as a homofermentative it produces much lactic acid and no CO2 while it can only thrive in a thin line of high pH) it needs a special self-regulating medium which is very expensive (MRS).

It is more than interesting to find it in my sour mash, I think that millet hulls had lots of it on them or it came from the air (we have an organic garden with lots of wild yeasts and microbes (also chitin-eating molds in the cellar)).

I have an ongoing "aged backset" project with a definitive pediococcus infection, the waxy layer is nearly half a millimeter thick. I hope that the strain will provide some diacetyl over time, but it will take months to see if it can be used in my flour protocol as a "spice backset" addition for some butterscotch-flavour (?) in my whisky. As brettanomyces is not naturally occuring in my country and I do not plan to infect any of my mash with it on purpose, there is a high chance that pedio can max out before some foul-smelling infection takes over. Only time will tell, I will update my backset diary when something happens.